The municipality of Ringerike was created on 1 January 1964 after the merger of the town of Hønefoss and the rural municipalities of Hole, Norderhov, Tyristrand, and Ådal. However, the area of Hole was removed from the municipality of Ringerike on 1 January 1977 to become a separate municipality once again. The historic area of Ringerike included not just the modern municipality of Ringerike but also Hole and Krødsherad, Modum and Sigdal.[2]

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 16 June 1967. The arms show a gold ring on a red background. The colours red and gold represent royalty and are the royal colors of Norway. The ring is a canting symbol and at the same time symbolises the unity of the area, which has been a separate entity (even considered a petty kingdom) since medieval times.[3][4]

There are many archaeological remains in the area, dating from the earliest times as well as from the medieval period. Ringerike has been mentioned in Norwegian history since the earliest times. Ringerike style, a historic Scandinavian animal art form, was first discovered on the rune stone in Ringerike, including the Alstad stone (Alstadsteinen), a rune stone was found on the farm Nedre Alstad in Østre Toten. Both Ulvøya an island near Oslo and Ringerike are mentioned in the text. Probably also Dynna rock (Dynnasteinen), a rune stone was found on Nordre Dynna in the traditional region of Hadeland at Gran and are of the same type of red sandstone, typical of Ringerike.

Dagling or Dögling was a legendary clan of the petty kingdom Ringerike. It was descended from a Dag the Great. One of the sons of Dag the Great according to Hversu Noregr Byggðist was Óli, who was the father of Dag, the father of Óleif the father of Hring (the old king Ring of Frithiof's Saga), the father of Olaf, the father of Helgi, the father of Sigurd Hjort, the father of Ragnhild, who was the mother of Harald Fairhair(Harald Hafdi).

In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair became the first king of Norway, Ringerike was a petty kingdom. Sigurd Hjort, king of Ringerike, was the father of Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter, the mother of Harald Fairhair. Following Harald's consolidation of Norway in the late 800s, the kingdom appears to have been ruled by a series of local jarls and client kings. One, Harald's son Halfdan Haleg, met his end in Orkney at the hands of Jarl Torf-Einarr.

Ringerike is famous for two agriculture products; Ringerike potato (Ringerikspotet) and Ringerike pea (Ringeriksert). Jens Aabel first started production of Ringerike potato around 1867. Ringerike pea has obtained PDO (protected designation of origin). The Ringerike potato has applied for the same protection, and is waiting for the result from the Agriculture department (2003). In June 2007, the potato got "protected geographical indication" (PGI) under the name Ringerikspotet fra Ringerike. Six farmers are now producing and packing this special potato at Ask in Ringerike. Most of the potatoes are sold in the Oslo area.